Newsletter Tuesday July 9

44th
TUESDAY JULY 9 // ISSUE #2
Copenhagen Denmark 7-15 July 2013
YESTERDAY IN COLOUR
Rubber boots, spaghetti
and Danish culture.
STUDENT MAP
Get a closer look
at many more
contestants.
TYCHO
BRAHE
PHYSICIST OF THE DAY
Read about the
man with the star
and the silver
nose.
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) received the
highest royal order the Elephant order
in 1580.
OPENING
CEREMONY
AND FUN
OUTDOORS
Yesterday was the first official day of IPhO 2013.
It began with the opening ceremony where all the
participants were looking good in their nice clothes.
After lunch all the students walked to Dyrehaven
where they played different games in the sun. The day
ended at the old amusement park Bakken. See all the
pictures from the eventful day here.
The Tivoli Guard
and the New
Bigband, led by
Andreas Vetö,
started the opening
ceremony.
The president
of the Danish
IPhO Committee
Niels Hartling
welcoming the
participants.
Other speakers were: the National
Advisor of Physics at the Ministry
of Education Martin Schmidt,
Professor and President of
Technical University of Denmark
Anders O. Bjarklev, Professor and
Director of Niels Bohr Institute
Robert K. Feidenhans’l, Mayor
of Lyngby-Taarbæk Søren P.
Rasmussen and last but not least
President of IPhO Dr. Hans Jordens
who ended the ceremony by
declaring IPhO 2013 open.
Football teams were quickly made across
country borders.
Some played on their own initiative.
Game: Tic Tac Toe.
Rubber boot throw
Game: All my chickens come home. Here we
see the last „chicken” getting caught.
Game: Spagetti-cup
Professor Emeritus Mogens Andresen explained
the history behind the ’lur’-instrument.
Flemming Enevold sang the old danish song
“Der stod 3 skjalke” accompanied by the
violinist Monika Malmquist.
Sofie Lassen-Kahlke
(actress) and
Flemming Enevold
(singer) were hosts.
Game: Stop-motion-game.
.
Two singers entertained during the opening
ceremony: rock singer Cæcilie Norbye and
vocalist Eivør Pálsdóttir. Here we see Cæcilie
Norbye.
2 • Hafnium • Issue #2
Hafnium • IPhO 2013 • 3
NORWAY
STUDENT MAP
RGYZSTAN
KY
GEORGIA
D
TES OF A
STA
M
MACAO
ICA
ER
UNI
TE
Did you spot the error in the latest issue of
Hafnium? India certainly did! But here they are:
the true team from India along with a bunch of
other great looking contestants.
TUGAL
POR
KUWAIT
ERTO RICO
PU
MALAYSIA
M
COLO BIA
UTH AFRICA
O
S
„
When, according to habit, I was contemplating the stars in a clear sky, I noticed a new
and unusual star, surpassing the other stars in
brilliancy. There had never before been any
star in that place in the sky.
4 • Hafnium • Issue #2
„
- Tycho Brahe
INDIA
THE RED SAUSAGE
HAFNIUM Editorial team
Red sausages are one of the most popular
foods in Denmark. The skin of the sausage
is red because it contains a red dye called
carmine. Danes eat the red sausages with remoulade (a yellow sour sauce based on a mix
of pickles and mayonnaise) or ketchup and
sennep as seen on the picture.
Eremitagen
Turi Schäffer
Editor & Journalist
tkschaffer@gmail.com
Miriam Ortwed
Layout, Graphics & Photo
miriam.ortwed@gmail.com
Hafnium • IPhO 2013 • 5
- and the Stella Nova
I
n 1572 Tycho Brahe saw what he thought was a
new star appearing on the night sky in the constellation Cassiopeia. At that time it was generally accepted that the sky was unchangeable, so scientists
claimed that the new light source was part of the
Earth’s atmosphere and no one believed Brahe’s claim that
it was in fact a star. In 1573 Brahe published the book called
De Nova Stella (The New Star), where he, using his own very
precise measurements, showed that the light source was situated amongst the other stars and not in the atmosphere of
the Earth. But in March 1574 the star disappeared from view
again.
Today we know that Brahe did not observe the birth of a
star, but the death of a star. In 2008 Stella Nova was classified
as a type 1a supernova.
Stella Nova was a great breakthrough in astronomy at the
time. Comets had also been thought to lie within the atmosphere of Earth because they were moving objects. Brahe,
however, found that they were further away than the moon,
and once more contested the view of an unchangeable universe.
In 1576 Brahe began the construction of the residence
and observatory Uranienborg on the island Hven close to Copenhagen, and six years later he expanded the complex with
an improved observatory called Stjerneborg (Star Fortress). In
these observatories he made extremely precise observations
for his time.
There are many stories related to Tycho
Brahe. Some are true. Others are just
good stories.
He maintained the Ptolemaic world view where Earth was stationary and the centre of the universe, but believed that the
other planets moved around the Sun. With his measurements
he established that the sun moves around the Earth, because
he would otherwise be able to see that the stars moved a
bit every half year in the so-called parallax. He could not
measure this movement, so the stars would have to be extremely far away for his measurements to be wrong, and that
seemed implausible. Measuring the parallax of stars due to
Earth’s rotation around the sun was not possible with Brahe’s
instruments. It was not until 1838 that it became possible to
measure this shift.
Frederik II, the king at the time, supported Brahe’s research even though it was expensive. When King Christian IV
took over the throne in 1588 he and Brahe had a falling out
and Brahe therefore left Denmark in 1597 together with more
than 20 years of accumulation of knowledge in the form of
instruments and observations. He was engaged by Emperor
Rudolph II in Prague and he was given the genius Johannes
Kepler as assistant. It was with Brahe’s observations that Kepler came up with his famous laws of planetary motion.
Even though Brahe believed in the incorrect world view,
his measurements were important and the very best for many
years after his death in 1601.
When he was young, Brahe lost part of
his nose in a duel with a high school enemy. He is therefore known for having a
silver nose. The silver was glued to what
was left of his real nose. This story is true.
Brahe was a great astronomer, but he
was also an astrologer and had a list of
days where one should not work since it
would bring bad luck. Therefore, if you
have a day where everything goes wrong
it is called a Tycho Brahe day. This story
is true.
Brahe died in 1601 right after a dinner
at a friend’s house. He became ill during
the meal, and there are many theories
about why he died.
One explanation is that Brahe did not
go to the bathroom, even though he really needed to, because it was rude, and
that his bladder therefore burst. This
story is not true.
For many years it was generally thought
that Brahe had been poisoned with mercury, but an examination of the grave in
2010 showed that this was not true.
Why Brahe died is still uncertain, but
it was probably because of a urinary tract
infection.
„
I conclude,
therefore, that
this star is not
some kind of
comet or a fiery
meteor... but that
it is a star shining
in the firmament
itself one that has
never previously
been seen before
our time, in any
age since the
beginning of the
world.
- Tycho Brahe
„
TYCHO BRAHE
TYCHO BRAHE AND THE
STORIES…
Time: 14.00-18.00
Place: Tivoli
(see more in IPhO Info)
TOMORROW...
Science Talents
– experience Tivoli
in a different way
The present picture of Stella Nova. The picture
is taken with the X-ray telescope Chandra.
6 • Hafnium • Issue #2
The constellation Cassiopeia. The position of
Stella Nova is marked with a circle.
Tycho Brahe was known for his silver nose.
Science Talents has created a series of physics questions relating to the rides in the old amusement park. You will battle
against each other and have lots of fun at the same time.
Some of the questions you will be asked tomorrow are:
How large is the acceleration in the craziest ride The Demon?
Is it possible to find the best (aka wildest) seat in the cart in
the old roller-coaster from 1914 with a pendulum?
Why does your weight change during the ride in the Ferris
wheel?
Does your scream depend on your vision? Try the rollercoaster The Odin Express with and without closed eyes.
How many solar cells are needed to run one of the rides with
only solar energy?
Hafnium • IPhO 2013 • 7
How was the
opening ceremony?
What is your first impression
of Denmark?
FINLAND
EINARI
„It was really great. The hosts, the singer and the ac-
„Copenhagen is really nice in the downtown with Tivoli
tress; I liked them. The best was when we had to stand
and the old buildings and the shopping street. In Fin-
up. That is going to be memorable. The old instru-
land we have hills, and in Denmark it is just flat with
ment, the ’lur’, was interesting because the sound was
windmills.”
weird.”
UTH KOREA
SO
„The music was beautiful and the hostess was very
„The buildings are classical and the people are kind. I
beautiful. The best was of course the introduction of
like the sun in the evening. It is still there at 9 o’clock
the other contries.”
in the evening.”
„I liked it. It was big. I liked the music and the speech-
„It is completely flat and green. Your summer days are
es. The best thing was the final concert with the lady in
like our spring days.”
DON OU
GH
TUGAL
POR
the green dress and when everybody had to stand up
to be presented.”
FILIPE
SPAIN
„It was interesting, but a little too long. The music was
„It is a lot better than I had expected. It is green and
interesting and it was fun to see all the different coun-
beautiful actually. We are next to Copenhagen, the
tries. I enjoyed when the participants from Switzerland
capital of the country, and it looks as if you were in a
threw chocolates at everyone when they stood up. It
jungle. It looks like the pictures on the internet. Every-
was fun. I also liked the part about the old instrument.”
thing is clean and everyone is very polite.”
XKCD
„SNACKTIME RULES”
MARC
8 • Hafnium • Issue #2
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Nipuna from Sri Lanka, who is turning 20 years
today. This makes him the oldest contestant in
the competition. Happy big birthday!
Congratulations also to Annah from Kuwait &
Tomáš from Slovakia. We hope you enjoy your
birthday in Denmark.